Hong Kong

Hi All,
We are on the high seas again. This passage will take us Hong Kong , China to Shanghai ,China. The sea is very Green here perhaps we are not at the great depth we have been in. It is really the East China sea just south of the Yellow sea.
We had a spectacular berth on Kowloon looking directly at Hong Kongs’ Impressive skyline and peaks. It is all vertical. Skyscraper on top of high rise . People live and work in these buildings. High finance and every manner of electronics company. The cost of living in HK is exorbitant . It seems like the recreation available is shopping, shopping and shopping. We saw Armani Kids, Burberry kids , Dolche Gabana , Ralph Lauren and every other top end retailer.
The first day we toured the city on the famous Star ferry and a convertible double decker bus that took us to Victoria peak for a magnificent view of what is Hong Kong. Natural beauty of the Islands and the awesome site of mans creation of a true High rise City on the shore. Hong Kong has a history dating back 5000 yrs! But more recently it was Governed by the Brits for 150 yrs until 1997 when the lease ran out and it returned to China. Not much in daily life changed because of that there is a great amount of freedom and a capitalist society which actually boarders on materialistic. The government changed hands to a Chinese appointed minister as opposed to an elected governor. You don’t feel any “communism” . I guess I don’t know what to look for but on the surface you would never know. I did here the labor to build this great place is treated almost like slavery at times . The labor comes from mainland China and mostly rural folks who are supposed to be paid once a yr and sometimes not even then if the job is not on schedule or not working out according to plan. I was told during our tour that a prestigious building around 57 stories was completed in 44 Months!!
The second day we spent on a small Island just around the corner from HK. We took a cat ferry (fast) to Lamma Island. It took about 30 min. We happened to” join” 200 13-14 yr old Chinese students on a field trip that day  So much for getting away from the noise. I noticed the Chinese are so used to being crowded that they just swarmed around us almost without noticing us. We had a wonderful time on this little Island w/out cars. It just had nice little café’s open markets and beaches. We all had a great time swimming. Yes its still warm and sunny 
More on Lamma Island w/ pictures next.
Latitude – 28’44.4N
Longitude- 122’ 40.1E
Course 20’
Sea depth 86 feet
sea conditions 10 ft
sea swell 8 ft

Take care
Capt J